When travelling in China, I realised that it is a pain in the ass to book hotels and hostels. In China, they have certain regulations that make it difficult for foreigners to book hotels and hostels.

So, What are the regulations?

#1 In China, all hotels would need to register their customers with the nearby police station. The hotels would need you to have your passport.

#2 Not all hotels are licenced to take in foreigners, that makes the whole process even more complicated.

When I was trying to book my hotel in Xiamen, most of the rooms that I wanted to book are meant strictly for Mainland Chinese.

Fellow travel blogger Becky at Trekking with Becky recently travelled to Beijing and was not allowed to check-in as the hotel did not have the licence to take in foreigners, and was almost left stranded. Read her experience on Hotel Hell in Beijing.

So, How did I booked my hotel in Xiamen?

Instead of looking through Agoda and Booking.com, I turned to the Chinese based booking site to assist me in booking my hotels.

Ctrip is the Expedia, the Agoda, the Booking.com of China, it encompassed booking of Flights, Hotels and even Trains. It has the most comprehensive amount of hotel in China.

Ctrip allows you to book using your credit card or payment at the hotel.

I would highly recommend that either you pay through your credit card from Ctrip website or you pay cash at the Hotel.

So, How is the WIFI?

When I was in Xiamen and even in Yun Shui Yao, the accommodation that I stayed in provided WIFI with good speed and connectivity. Therefore, this would not be a major concern.

So, How safe is it staying in a Hotel or Hostel in China?

I would say that it is relatively safe in China when we were staying in Xiamen, we had requested to stay on the first floor, instead of climbing the stairs to a higher level. The entrance of the place was opened most of the time, and sometimes there wasn’t anyone sitting at the reception. The doors are electronically locked, instead of using a key. For the past 2 nights that we stayed there, it was very safe and there wasn’t much to be afraid about. I had also brought my Macbook along and most of the time, it is kept in the room.

Good to know that it’s safe staying in a hostel, and thank you for the informative guide! I was also wondering about the Wifi but I’m glad to hear that you were able to stay connected. Maybe I will try a hostel when I visit China someday 🙂

Very nice tips, Bernard! I did not know most hotels do not accept foreigners. When I was in Beijing (http://svetdimitrov.com/beijing/), there was not such a problem. Thanks for sharing the website too! I will bookmark it.

Wow I have no idea they have restrictions and regulations for that as well. But considering everything else, it is probably not that surprising. Still sounds like a pain in the ass when you want to book something and you can.

How’s the hostel scene in China? I’ve been there a few times but never had the chance to stay in a hostel because I always use CouchSurfing. There are a lot of CSers in China and it’s amazing! The hostel on the photo looks neat tho. I should give it a try!

I would like to go to mainland China some day. How is the translations? I’ve been to Hong Kong, when it was British ruled so English wasn’t a problem then. Tokyo too is internationally diverse. Just wondering if it’s easy to get around with the language.

In China, you would need to know some mandarin or you could get the hotels to write the words in Chinese, and point and pass it to the drivers or to ask for directions. But in the major areas like airports and most hotels, they would be able to speak at least some English.

I never knew hotel regulations were so strict in China! I imagine Ctrip has a good english version to make the booking process easier? I wouldn’t really want to rely on google translate on such occasions 😀